Hawks pass by Indians

Saturday

Oct 6, 2012 at 2:31 AMOct 6, 2012 at 2:35 AM

Prairie Central routs Pontiac

Darcy Rigsby

Prairie Central head coach Brian Hassett said his staff had been stressing to start fast on offense and make teams work from behind to beat them. The game plan worked to perfection Friday as the Hawks scored 22 first-quarter points on their way to a convincing 51-6 victory over Pontiac Indians in a battle of Corn Belt Conference rivals. “We wanted to come out early on our Senior Night and not have a let down,” Hassett said. “Our guys came out with an intensity and fire tonight that I’m real proud of.” That fire started on the very first drive of the game. Prairie Central marched 51 yards in just four plays to get the scoring started. Junior tailback Matt Hartke rattled off a 33-yard run that set up quarterback Addison Bounds for a 6-yard touchdown run to open up the scoring for the Hawks. Bounds hit Evan Bahler for the two-point conversion and an 8-0 lead with only 54 seconds expired in the first quarter. Hartke led the Hawks in rushing on the night with 110 yards and two TDs on just half a dozen carries. Prairie Central forced a Pontiac punt and began the march to its second score. The key play in the drive was a fake punt on fourth-and-11 on their on their own 34 yard line that gave the Hawks a first down. From there, Prairie Central executed a 13-play drive that ended with Kyle Moody sprinting in from five yards out. The extra point was no good, but the Hawks led 14-0 midway through the opening quarter. The Indians continued to try to get their running game going but the PC defense stifled them at every move. Bounds hit Moody on a 59-yard scoring strike to extend the Hawks lead to 22-0 at the end of the first quarter. “That might have been the best quarter of football we’ve played this year,” Hassett said. “Defensively, we didn’t give them anything and offensively we executed the plays we wanted to.” Prairie Central continued moving the ball with ease in the second quarter to turn up the heat on the Indians. The Hawks forced the Tribe to punt again and immediately turned it into a score. This time it was Bounds spinning away from two would-be PTHS tacklers and scrambled 28 yards for the score. Bounds wasn’t done doing damage to the Indians. He connected with Moody on a 32-yard touchdown pass play to extend the Hawk lead to 36-0 midway through the second quarter. On the night, Bounds threw for 218 yards and two touchdowns on 8 of 13 passing while also rushing for a pair of TDs. Moody was the top receiver with three catches for 101 yards and two touchdowns. He also added one score on the ground. The Indians got on the board with 2:17 left in the first half when Logan Gschwendtner teamed with Alex Friedman on a 1-yard pass to cut the Hawk lead to 36-6. It was a 39-6 game at the half after Blake Vaughn kicked a 26-yard field goal in the final minute of the half. Hartke added touchdown runs of 11 and 57 yards to finish the Hawk scoring in the second half and get the clock running. Prairie Central accumulated 486 yards of total offense while holding the Indians to 167 yards. “That was a very complete game for us,” Hassett said. “I’m very proud of these guys but now we become road warriors for the next two weeks and to try to finish strong heading into the post season.” Prairie Central (5-2, 5-1) will travel to Rantoul next Friday night before ending the season at Chillicothe IVC. Gschwendtner and sophomore Zach Tjarks combined for 6 of 8 passing for 54 yards and a TD. Nick Wotton rushed for 60 yards to lead the ground game. Pontiac (2-5, 2-4) will host Eureka next week in the final Corn Belt game of the season before heading to Kankakee in Week 9.